Parle may lay-off up to 10,000 employees amid slump in demand

Bengaluru: Parle Products Pvt Ltd, the country’s biggest biscuit maker, is likely to lay off up to 10,000 employees amid a falling demand for consumer goods.

Sales have been impacted owing to the slow economic growth witnessed in Asia’s third-largest economy, forcing companies to curtail production and raising hopes that the India government will unveil an economic stimulus to revive growth.

The company, which recorded a turnover of about Rs 10,000 crores and provides jobs to nearly one lakh people, is expected to go on a lay-off spree if the situation does not improve, the Economic Times reported.

“We have sought reduction in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on biscuits priced at Rs 100 per kg or below, which are typically sold in packs of Rs 5 and below, but if the government doesn’t provide that stimulus, then we have no choice but to let go of 8,000-10,000 people from our workforce across factories as slowing sales are severely impacting us,” the daily said quoting Mayank Shah, category head of Parle Products.

Parle, which makes the popular Parle-G biscuits, blames the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that was rolled out in 2017, for its poor sales. The company says its sales were affected post-implementation of GST since the higher tax was imposed even on biscuits costing Rs 5 per pack, Reuters reported.

The Marie biscuit maker said the higher taxes have forced the company to provide fewer biscuits in each packet. This, in turn, affected the demand from consumers in rural India, which is said to contribute over half of the company’s revenue.